Qaleh Kharabeh (, also
Romanized
In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...
as Qal‘eh Kharābeh) is the archaeological site of a 5th-century fort in the
Gorgan Plain The Gorgan Plain, or Dasht-e Gorgan (), is situated in northeastern Iran in Golestan Province. It extends from the lower slopes of the Alborz and Kopet Dag mountain ranges to the steppes of Turkmenistan. The River Gorgan flows through the plain fr ...
, in
Golestan Province in northeastern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. It lies one mile to the south of the
Great Wall of Gorgan, which was a fortification built between the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...
and the
Kopet Dag
The Köpet Dag, Kopet Dagh, or Koppeh Dagh (; ), also known as the Turkmen-Khorasan Mountain Range, is a mountain range on the border between Turkmenistan and Iran that extends about along the border southeast of the Caspian Sea, stretching nort ...
Mountains between 420 AD and 530s AD by the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
, on the northern edge of their empire. The fort may have served as a barracks for soldiers defending the wall or may have been used by civilians, but its neat layout suggest it had a military origin.
A
magnetometer
A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, ...
survey of Qaleh Kharabeh was made in 2007 and 2008. The fort had a formal and precise, military-style layout. A central crossroads was found with evidence of buildings on either sides of the roads, these being more easily discernable near the crossroads. Nearby these were pits and places where fire pits may have been located. On the eastern side of the fort were rows of what appeared to be small enclosures; perhaps these were where gullies had been dug surrounding tents or other temporary buildings. Other parts of the site had no discernible structures, apart from the remnants of the field divisions that pre-dated the fort. Pottery found during excavations indicates that the fort was occupied for a relatively short period, during the earlier part of the wall's history. The diet of the occupants included fish, presumably transported from the Caspian Sea which lies to the west.
[
Qaleh Kharabeh is one of several forts to be found in the plain south of the Great Wall. This hinterland south of the wall probably receives sufficient natural precipitation for rain-fed agriculture to take place, and the canals which are a feature of the area were built, not for irrigation purposes, but to supply the needs of the military garrison and for the brick kilns that were used to manufacture the bricks of which the walls and the forts were built. It is thought that Qaleh Kharabeh was used to garrison the troops stationed on the wall.]
See also
* Iraj Citadel
References
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Archaeological sites in Iran
Sassanian fortifications
Buildings and structures in Golestan province